Darkness
by Light1
Summary: Taken from the ruins of the Castle by Richter and Maria Alucard attempts a mortal life but the bloodhunger is stronger than anyone could ever have known.


**Darkness**

Disclaimer: Castlevania belongs to konami not me. I am making £0.00 out of this fic, it is written purely because I have a burning need to create. Although I would like to own Alucard . . . then he'd be mine.

Rating: PG-13

Setting:After Dracula's curse

Authoressnote: How many times would he fail?

It was worse at night. It was always worse at night. When it was quiet, almost silent and he would hear sounds of the mortals around him breathing, their heartbeats slow and steady, powerful and healthy. It was at times like these when his hunger rose up again. The blood hunger, that until recently he had always indulged. It thrummed through him with every pulse of his body. Like a whip it lashed through him, at times making him want to cry out with longing and desperation. In the daylight hours he could control it easier, as if the sunlight made the daemon inside of him still and quiet. It helped that there was always a distraction in the day light, Trevor always had some menial task he needed help with; even when the dunpeal's 'help' only made the task harder the mortal slayer seemed to understand the immortals want of distraction and always indulged him.

The sun itself was a distraction also, for while it would not harm him the way it would true vampires it was still an irritant. It gave him headaches, dizzy spells and sometimes on bright days mild burns, all of which stopped him concentrating on his hunger. There were also other problems to concentrate on in the daylight hours, problems with people, Trevor's wife was still somewhat jumpy around him and then there were problems with food. Cooked meat never really held any appeal to him, but since he had stopped feeding from mortals he had little choice in the matter about what else to eat. It was difficult trying to digest something his body had no love for. But he had managed during the day when distractions were prominent. Then the daylight would fade and night's blackness would descend once more. Trevor would sleep and all distractions would be gone. It would come suddenly, like a punch in the gut and it would stay with him until the day light returned. He was a nocturnal creature by nature, a creature of the night and of darkness. His body shook with want of sleep having not had any for the better part of a week. But his internal clock said it was time to be up, thus keeping him from sleep. He had hoped he would sleep this night. He'd almost collapsed from exhaustion during the daylight hours but now his body clock was screaming at him to stay awake, to hunt, to feed. The dunpeal rolled in the sheets and growled into the pillow, hoping the low sound wouldn't wake the other inhabitants of the small house. It was getting too much, his body was shaking with weakness, his instincts were screaming at him and all he wanted was to sleep.

It had been a month now, a whole month since the fall of Castlevania, a month since his father had fallen, and a long, long month since he had turned from his darker nature. Trevor had convinced him to come home with him and for some reason that Alucard couldn't quiet remember now he had agreed. But it was a foolish dream, a dream of a normal life, a dream of simply turning away from his darker impulses. Trevor was wrong. His nature was not something that could be changed. He was a daemon as much as he was human and human as much as he was a daemon. With a snarl of frustration Alucard twisted himself out of bed and stalked about the room, lifting his clothes and boots before stomping angrily out the front door. Air would help, cold air would calm him.

He was not sure how far he walked or for how long. A scent on the air stopped him in his tracks; he could smell mortal food, ale and men. A tavern was on this road, a resting point for travellers. Without much thought the dunpeal moved towards the warm scent, feet moving silently over the rough ground. The tavern was large, larger than he had expected anyway, the main building was two stories and smaller buildings surrounded it, clearly housing rooms for travellers as well as living accommodation for the family that ran the establishment. A sound made Alucard jerk out of his thoughts, the sound of branches being moved, of feet on broken twigs. Something was in the forest behind him.

Tilting his head the dunpeal breathed deeply through his nose but found only the scent of tavern. The wind was blowing the wrong way. His stomach growled loudly and hunger pains ripped through him strong enough to nearly pull him to the ground. With a growl he managed to move forwards, towards the tavern. A group were inside, talking, laughing and drinking. With little thought the dunpeal settled himself in a shadowed corner to wait. He wasn't entirely sure why he was here. He couldn't kill, he'd promised himself he would turn from that life, he'd promised Trevor. Trevor who had taken him in, pulled him from the darkness, Trevor who claimed to be his friend. But he was dying, he knew it deep inside he knew that the blood lust could only be ignored for so long before it took control, took over his mind. Again time seemed to lose meaning to the dunpeal, the ground in front of him slowly frosted over and his cape became cold and hard, shining in the moonlight as the frost settled over it as well. The cold did not disturb him from his guard, watching the door until the lights inside became dim and the people inside came outside. The main group hurried quickly, fearing the cold and darkness but one man did not.

He was an old man, alone and clearly drunk. Without thought the dunpeal moved closer, his movements silent and graceful, a predator seeking his prey. Cool tension kept him focused, the man was old and slow even if he hadn't been drunk he would not have seen the creature creeping up behind him frost falling from its cape. Alucard felt himself pause, his muscles tensing hard, coiling and without a conscious decision he leapt. He collided with the mortal and sent them both rolling, the mortal cried out in surprise and weak hands clung to his attacker as they fell and landed in the dirt road. They landed with the vampire on top and the drunken mortal had only moments to realise his fate before the predator struck, fangs. The blood was hot and smooth, it poured into him like life itself and filled him. He felt whole once again and a deep purr rumbled from his chest as he drank. It was life and it was inside him again, drowning out the empty hunger, pushing back the grief and feeling of failure. This was what he was, this was what he wanted and nothing else mattered. So immersed in the aged mans death was he that he did not hear the calls behind him, nor the footsteps of a lone man running up to him. it was only when the aged man's veins ran dry that he noticed the scent of another in the air, the scent was familure, warm and human. The dunpeal refused to turn to face the man who had taken him in.

"Alucard? What are you doing?" Trevor asked quietly. Yes it was always worse at night.

**End **


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